G321 - Audience expectations

Our genre for our final film opening is going to be a Tragic Drama, we chose this genre because we know a lot about these types of films and thought it would be quite difficult to do so it would challenge us, you have to think more about a tragic drama than you do a horror (which would just be dark setting, creepy music, death, blood) so we have chosen to do a tragic genre.
In order for us to get as much research for our tragic drama we wanted to find out what the audience think of these types of films so we have created a questionnaire to find out their expectations of a tragic drama, we have asked a range or ages to give us the best results (so we have a variety of ages because people will have different opinions)

Age 13
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Crying, death.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Death.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Innocent and sad ones.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     It could be set anywhere.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     My sisters Keeper
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Someone dying of an illness.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
   Cold play music as its sad and serious.

Age 15
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     A tragic disastrous event, (a death) or something really sad.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Sadness, Anger and Death.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     A family with lots of different ages, (maybe someone dying young).
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Rural, country/town, Suburbs.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     My sisters keeper, Beaches.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Tragedy in a family (maybe a young person and pregnancy, drugs or death).
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
    Lots of crying, and emotional people.

Age 16
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Someone dying, maybe people in love.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Death, Love, Money, Anger, Depression, Betrayal.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     A couple, A family, someone evil and someone innocent like a child.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Countryside.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     My sisters keeper.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     A family crisis, someone betraying someone else, family member dies.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
    Old fashioned, aromatic soundtrack

Age 18
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     A sob story, some sort of moral message.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Death and loss of loved ones.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Tragic heroes.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Almost anywhere.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     Time travellers wife, The notebook, Beaches.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Loss of loved ones.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
    Moving soundtrack.

Age 20
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Something tragic happens to a family.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Death, Sadness, Heartbreak.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Family and Couples.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Household.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     My sisters keeper.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Family crisis.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
   Lots of crying.

Age 29
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Upset people, characters that deal with a problem.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Family Problems, Death, Accidents.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Teenagers, Lovers, Older Characters and Families.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Small town, Family Home.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     My sisters keeper, PS I love you, Step mom.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Death of a relative, An accident where somebody is hurt.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
    Sad Soundtrack, Sad songs, Hospitals.

 Age 35
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Death or any sort of family trauma.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Accidents,Problems, Life Changing challenges.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Family or any people who have a close bond
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Small town or a specific place (e.g hospital).
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     If only, Shawshank redemption, Benjamin Button, A walk to remember, My life, My girl.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Death, illness, accidents, pain, heartbreak
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
    Slow piano music, slow soundtrack.

Age 45
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Something that makes me cry, not much laughter.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Terminal illness, miscarriages of justice, disaster movies.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Sad, Ill, Determined, Courageous.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Anywhere, home, hospital, courtroom, ships, aeroplanes.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     Titanic, The Notebook, The Shawshank redemption, The green mile, The champ.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     A mother terminally ill, a building collapsing, a man jailed for murder when he is innocent.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
    The music is very important aways draws me to tears.

Age 74
1. What would you expect to find in a tragic drama film ?
     Death, conflict in a family.
2. What themes would you expect a tragic drama to contain ?
     Child Missing.
3. What type of Characters would you find in a tragic drama ?
     Police, Children, Families.
4. Where would a tragic drama be set ?
     Country Town.
5. What tragic drama films have you seen ?
     Titanic, Gone with the wind, Shutter Island.
6. What scenarios could a tragic drama film include ?
     Death, Someone Missing.
7. Are there any other things that come to mind when you think of a tragic drama (Props, Costume, Soundtrack, etc...)
   Dancing with wolves

By asking a range age of people our questionnaire we have found out that all of them said death had to be involved somehow, the characters should either be a family or couple (need to have a close bond), scenarios could be miscarriage, abortion, family death, missing person, heart break or someone terminally ill fighting a battle. Our tragic drama could be set in a very small quiet area, where not a lot happens. There are a lot of tragic films listed which we could find out about to help is become experts in what is involved in a tragic drama. Lastly the audience said that the soundtrack is one of the most important things especially by setting the mood and making things twice as sad so when we come to making our film we will have to think carefully about the soundtrack.
We are glad we have done this because it helps us discover what the audience expect to see in a drama, when we come to thinking of our ideas that we want we can look back at the scenarios, themes, sound, characters etc... and see what the audience would like.

By Millie



Chart 1

Posted by Yasmin

These results show that in the opening of our film we definitely need to show death, not in a visual way but we need to make the audience realise that someone has died or is going to die in our film. The characters which the audience most expect to find would be a family so I think we do need to consider this, because with tragic drama's they often always use families to show how close they are in there relationships. Our film could be set in the country side of a family home the audience thinks. We discovered that the most well known drama film to our audience is "My sisters keeper", because of this I think we will be relating to this film a lot during the planning and process of our film opening, and this also links in with the fact the audience think a terminal illness is a topic that would suit going into a tragic drama.

By Millie